Please forgive me for straying off the fundraising theme slightly, into the world of mobile computing. This does relate to fundraising, as I, like many others, rely on mobile computing to do our work.

Back in January I bought one of these incredible Asus Eee PCs for my daughter. This little miracle of technology came singing and dancing out of its box, ready for the user to start working on it, within 30 seconds of pressing the on button!

What is so special about the Eee PC is that it is slightly bigger than your typical Bible (version irrelevant), weighs less than a kilo, hasn’t got an ounce of Microsoft inside it (Hoooooray!) and costs under £200! (OK, you have to add VAT at £35) It runs on Linus-based software, which means Open Office and other FREE open source applications, so you never have to pay for the software, which is as good (and in some cases better) than MS software

It has everything you need: software, webcam, stereo speakers, mic, even voice activated commands. You can play your MP3s, record short videos, play some wicked games (Penguin Race is awesome) and best of all it hasWiFi built in, so you can log on to any wireless network (like the one on the National Express East Coast train I’m writing this on!).

Here’s the bit I really want to get over though. I started to enquire about 3G USB broadband access, you know, the little dongles you plug in in order to access the internet anywhere. People kept telling me it wouldn’t work with Linux. However, the really nice people at the Harrogate 3 shop took time to test it out on one of their USB modems and using the built in Wizard on the Eee PC, it’s a doddle! Just look for the 3G connection in Network>Create, then search for the network (i.e. in this case 3 UK), then search for the right country and click “Finish”. Virtually 100% Internet access wherever you are.

My apologies again to those who came looking for fundraising, but one’s mind can wander off it occasionally and mine did just now!

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